Page 83 of For Your Consideration

“Better answer it…”

“He’s gonna to be sooo mad,” I said, slurring a little.

“Sutton!” She pushed my hand holding the phone and I answered before it was too late.

“Hello…” I tried to sound like I wasn’t drunk off my ass, but I’d ended up dropping my voice low and I cringed—it did not sound normal at all. Quinn bit her lip to stop herself from laughing.

“Fuck, Sutton. Where the hell are you?”

I winced at the anger in his voice.

“Hi, Asher. I’m good, thanks for asking.”

Quinn snorted from beside me. I was sure she could hear his voice clearly through the phone.

“We forgot to tell them we were going out,” she whispered. The wine at my apartment had made it seem like a great idea to just go out—telling anyone didn’t even cross our minds.

“You weren’t answering your fucking phone. Where are you?”

My drunk brain wasn’t processing how pissed off he really was even though he was practically growling through the phone.

I let out a sigh. “You swear a lot.”

Quinn shook her head at me with a smile.

“Goddamn it, Sutton.”

“Did you know when you’re angry your accent gets thicker? It’s very attractive,” I said, then hiccupped.

“Hey!” Quinn whispered excitedly as she grabbed my arm. “I think that about Theo all the time!” I widened my eyes at her and we both started laughing.

“Focus, Sutton,” Asher snapped just as Quinn’s phone started going off.

She showed me the screen. Knight was calling her. She rolled her eyes before she pushed herself off the floor.

“Money Bags!” I heard her say as she left me in the bathroom.

“I need to tell you a secret,” I whispered into the phone with another hiccup.

“What’s that?”

“I’m a little drunk,” I admitted to Asher as he sighed deeply. I could imagine him shaking his head and looking up at the ceiling.

“Sutton, tell me where you are.”

“Are you mad at me?”

“No, sweetheart.” He didn’t sound quite as angry as he had been when I first answered the phone. “You scared me. Can you just tell me where you are?”

“Scared you?” I asked.

“They’re at Pulse.” I heard Knight’s voice on the other end of the phone.

“You can’t care about me, Asher.” I let out a sigh and rested my head back against the wall.

“And why is that, sweetheart?” I could hear him moving around.

“Because I’m a mess, and nothing about your life seems messy. I have a daughter, I’m stressed about custody, I’m busy, and I don’t know how to let you in because if I do, I’ll get my heart broken when you realize I’m not good enough. I haven’t even kissed you, even though I’ve really wanted to. I think you would destroy me. I’m not sure I could recover from that.” At least being drunk was giving me some of the courage I didn’t normally have. “I know we have great chemistry but we’re just going to have to let things stay as they are. Okay?”